Two nearly drown and third hit by car Saturday
By Barry Adams and Andy Steinke, Capital Newspapers
A 6-year-old boy was in the University of Wisconsin Hospital on Monday after nearly drowning at Kalahari Resort in Lake Delton.
The boy was one of two near drownings in the village Saturday. In a third case Saturday, a boy was hit by a car on Highway 12, Lake Delton Police Chief Tom Dorner said.
Jacob Durant, of Oshkosh, was pulled from a pool in the outdoor waterpark of the Kalahari Resort just before 2:30 p.m. Lifeguards performed CPR on the unresponsive boy, who was initially taken to St. Clare Hospital in Baraboo before being flown to Madison.
A spokeswoman for the resort said the parents of the boy have told hotel management the boy is expected to recover.
Durant’s stepmother told police Durant had been wearing a life vest because he doesn’t know how to swim, but said he wasn’t wearing it when he was pulled from the water.
A guest at the resort helped a lifeguard pull Durant from the three to five foot pool after Durant was seen floating in the center of the pool. The man also performed CPR on the boy until additional lifeguards responded.
Earlier in the day, at 1:20 p.m., a 38-year-old Milwaukee man was pulled from the outdoor pool at the Paradise Motel in Lake Delton.
Arundel Mercedes was under water for 10 to 20 seconds before he was pulled to the surface by a man sitting next to the pool. The pool did not have a lifeguard on duty, Dorner said.
He was taken to St. Clare Hospital for treatment by Dells-Delton EMS.
Mercedes was reported to be unconscious and on life-support but improving as of 5 p.m. on Sunday, according to Lake Delton police.
In a third incident Saturday, a 10-year-old boy was in good condition at UW-Hospital Monday after he was hit by a car while trying to cross the Parkway near Noah’s Ark around 6 p.m.
Dorner said the boy, Derek Birling, of Appleton, was with friends when a car in one of the two southbound lanes stopped and motioned for the boy to cross. However, a vehicle in the other southbound lane did not stop and struck the boy, who was not in a cross walk, Dorner said.
There was heavy traffic in the area during the time of the crash, according to a police report, and the crash has been classified as accidental. No citations have been issued.
The man who hit the boy was taken to St. Clare for a legal blood draw, but alcohol does not appear to be a factor in the crash as a preliminary Breathalyzer test showed a reading of 0.014.